


Country Boys: A Zack/Cloud AU Collection

by AppleSharon



Series: Slice of Clack one-shots [5]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Aerti as a secondary pairing, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Alternate Universe - Hospital, Kissing, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Romance, Slice of Clack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:55:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25561672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AppleSharon/pseuds/AppleSharon
Summary: “You got chicken and I got beef, want to split?” Holding out his own entrée, Zack peered over at Cloud’s tray, taking in a different selection of fruit and cheese, all sealed in their own separate containers.“Yeah sure.” Cloud grimaced a bit at how gruff his own voice sounded, but Zack didn’t seem to mind. He kept smiling at Cloud and it seemed so earnest that Cloud didn’t have the heart to tell him to stop.A series of AU one-shots for Zack Fair and Cloud Strife. Zack and Cloud share food together (among other things) across a variety of AU settings. Chapters will be rearranged so the most recent AU (currently, the Airplane AU) is first.Chapter 1: Airplane AU (they meet on a plane) "Chicken or Beef on Highwind Airlines"Chapter 2: Ghost AU (retired military officer Zack, ghost Cloud) "Cup Noodles in the Shinra Mansion"Chapter 3: Hogwarts AU "Chocolate Biscuits in the Hufflepuff Common Room"Chapter 4: Hospital AU (Nurse Zack and patient Cloud), "Pickle-Flavoured Stamp Crisps at Midgar Western Hospital"
Relationships: Zack Fair/Cloud Strife
Series: Slice of Clack one-shots [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1812355
Comments: 9
Kudos: 62
Collections: Slice of Clack: July 2020





	1. Chicken or Beef on Highwind Airlines

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally for the Slice of Clack July 2020 writing project but I couldn't decide on just one AU. 
> 
> If you have an idea that I haven't written yet, feel free to leave it in the comments. I can't guarantee that I'll fill it, but I'm always looking for writing prompts and take requests!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“You got chicken and I got beef, want to split?” Holding out his own entrée, Zack peered over at Cloud’s tray, taking in a different selection of fruit and cheese, all sealed in their own separate containers._
> 
> _“Yeah sure.” Cloud grimaced a bit at how gruff his own voice sounded, but Zack didn’t seem to mind. He kept smiling at Cloud and it seemed so earnest that Cloud didn’t have the heart to tell him to stop._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying to get back into writing and damn this is clunky but hopefully snaps me out of a writing funk. ^ ^;

“Hey! Blondie!”

Cloud looked up into the stern face of a man with a shaved head. He wore sunglasses, even inside the plane, and a crisp, freshly-pressed suit. Cloud’s first thought was that his exterior didn’t match the high-pitched yelling that he had initially heard, but the mismatch was quickly solved when a skinny red-haired man in a wrinkled white oxford peered over the stern man’s shoulder and spoke again. 

“You grab that armrest any tighter and it’s gonna break,” the man said with a sneer. 

Cloud looked down at his right arm. His hand was white-knuckled against the grey of the plastic armrest, fingers curled around the front. The pad of his index finger was nervously pressing the button on the front that returned his seat back to its proper position. Cloud hadn’t realized he had been pressing it at all. His seat was already as upright as it could be. He looked up again. The man was still talking.

“—so do you mind swapping seats with him? It’s still a window and everything.”

_What?_

“What?” 

The red-head exhaled dramatically, groaning a particularly put-upon sigh. Next to him, the man in the suit hadn’t moved. 

“Do you mind swapping seats?” He said this slowly, his voice dragging over the words as if Cloud were a child. 

If Cloud hadn’t been so preoccupied, he would have possibly picked a fight with the guy. Instead, he mumbled his assent and unbuckled the seatbelt that he had already tightened around his waist. 

“What seat was yours?”

“12A,” the man said as he pushed past Cloud. “Thanks a bunch, blondie.”

Cloud nodded, looking down at the floor. There was little point in pulling down his bag only to have to find another place to store it. Retrieving it at the end of the flight would be a bit of a hassle though, and he glared back at the shock of red hair he could see over the rows of seats from the aisle. 

He hated flying.

***

It was a long flight from Midgar to Nibelheim and Cloud hadn’t brought anything from his bag to his new seat except his phone and a pair of earbuds. He absentmindedly flipped through the movie options, sliding his finger across the small touchscreen.

“Hey.” 

Cloud bristled, anticipating another rude interruption. Instead he found his new seatmate, a grinning black-haired man, talking with the stewardess. 

“Is there anyone sitting here? I’d love to stretch out if I could and move over one.” 

She smiled and nodded, blushing prettily at him. Cloud turned towards the window and rolled his eyes. He felt bad for stewardesses who had to deal with people hitting on them all the time. Cloud received some similar treatment when he worked at Tifa’s bar sometimes, but Tifa didn’t mind if he told people off. 

Tifa had kicked her fare share of idiots out the door and she had it worse than he did. The stewardess had no choice but to be polite. 

He turned to tell the guy off himself, or at least make some sort of annoying show of having to go to the washroom, but he found the man grinning back at him and the stewardess already gone. His ire dissipated, leaving only his underlying nerves. 

“Hey,” the guy repeated. Cloud looked towards him, eyes on the empty seat between them.

“Hey.”

“Are you nervous?” he asked, still smiling. “You’re gripping the armrest really tightly.”

Cloud lifted his head sharply, squeezing the armrest out of annoyance now. He clenched his jaw but immediately deflated at the sunny expression on the man’s face. The man tilted his head curiously before nodding and reaching out his hand.

“I’m Zack. If we’re going to be on such a long flight together, might as well introduce myself.”

“Cloud.”

He took Zack’s hand hesitantly. Zack reached over and grabbed Cloud’s hand with both of his own, still smiling. 

Cloud wondered if Zack ever stopped smiling.

***

“Cloud?”

He felt a tapping on his shoulder. When his eyes fluttered open, he saw Zack smiling down at him. 

“Sorry,” Zack said sheepishly. “It’s almost time for food and I figured you’d want to eat.”

Cloud bit back a retort that Zack wasn’t his mother and nodded slowly, swallowing down a rising wave of sadness before he could think too much about her. 

“Thank you,” Cloud said. 

A moment later, he realized that he meant it.

***

As Cloud peeled back the foil from his small entrée a wave of steam hit his face. Zack laughed as Cloud closed his eyes.

“Does it smell that good? It’s just airplane food,” Zack asked.

Cloud shrugged in response. He wasn’t a particularly picky eater and he had been too nervous to eat anything before the flight. 

“You got chicken and I got beef, want to split?” Holding out his own entrée, Zack peered over at Cloud’s tray, taking in a different selection of fruit and cheese, all sealed in their own separate containers. 

“Yeah sure.” Cloud grimaced a bit at how gruff his own voice sounded, but Zack didn’t seem to mind. He kept smiling at Cloud and it seemed so earnest that Cloud didn’t have the heart to tell him to stop. 

“Great! To be honest,” Zack began, leaning in closer over the empty seat between them, “I just really wanted to try some of the mashed potatoes. Mine came with broccoli.”

Unlike his feelings towards most people he met, Cloud didn’t mind that Zack talked through their entire meal, the stream of chatter an unlikely balm to his nerves.

***

Zack didn’t stop talking for the next few hours. 

Zack’s last name was Fair. 

Zack had been in the Shinra military since he was young and had recently retired.

Zack’s favourite colour was purple.

Zack’s best friend was named Kunsel. 

Zack had a tattoo on his upper arm. 

Zack was ticklish but wouldn’t say where — he had looked at Cloud somewhat suggestively when he said this, as if he was daring Cloud to try it out. Cloud had swallowed and blushed and looked away, the sound of Zack’s laughter echoing in his head.

“Why are you going to Nibelheim?” Cloud asked after Zack had finished telling him about his favourite movie, which was not one of the in-flight options. 

“I’m not. I’m taking a buggy down to Gongaga.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. It’s my hometown.”

For the first time since the flight started, Zack’s voice dropped low. He gave Cloud a pained smile. 

The Gongaga reactor meltdown had been all over the news. Nibelheim had trouble with it’s own power plant and reactor sometimes — usually from small animals curling up inside and dying — but Shinra scientists had yet to figure out the cause of the Gongaga explosion.

“Is it…safe?” he finally asked. 

Zack shook his head. “I dunno, but I have to see for myself, you know?” His hand twitched against the top of the armrest. 

Cloud bit his lip. He wanted to reach out to Zack somehow but didn’t know if it would be welcome. They barely knew each other. 

“I’m sorry.”

Zack nodded and sighed, rubbing his hand frantically through his messy black hair.

***

Hours later, Cloud awoke with a start to a heavy weight on his shoulder. 

Zack snored lightly into Cloud’s jacket. 

Sometime after the cabin lights had been dimmed, they had both fallen asleep, gravitating towards each other across the empty seat. Cloud realized that the armrests had been pulled all the way up, creating a makeshift sofa. 

He wondered when Zack had put them up.

***

They exchanged PHS numbers at the end of the jetbridge, ignoring the annoyed glances sent their way as they stood just off to the side, slightly interrupting the stream of people walking off of the plane and into the Mt. Nibel International Airport.

The giant grin was back on Zack’s face, but he still seemed a bit sad. 

“I’ll message you during my trip. It was really great to meet you Cloud.” 

Nodding, Cloud clenched his fist around the strap of his duffel bag. It dug into the palm of his hand as Zack turned and walked away towards a sign that read “Ground Transportation.”

“Zack wait!”

Shame burned in the pit of his stomach, but Cloud swallowed it down and ran lightly in the same direction, stopping just short of Zack. In his periphery he could see people watching them, wondering what the odd man who had yelled after someone would do. 

_I don’t have anything waiting for me in Nibelheim._

_You don’t have to go there alone._

_Take me with you._

“Do you want…”

Zack’s eyes had widened and his mouth was slightly open. Cloud wondered what it would be like to kiss him. 

“I could go with you,” Cloud said lamely. “ To Gongaga. If you want…”

He shifted back and forth on his heels, half-full duffel bag in hand. The house in Nibelheim could wait. His mother had died suddenly, but had left it so that all Cloud had to do was show up to claim the house if he wanted it. 

Cloud bit his lip. He didn’t really want the house at all, but it was the only thing he had left of her. 

For once, Zack appeared speechless. Cloud looked up at him with what he hoped was a smile and Zack’s eyes softened. He reached forward and took Cloud’s hand in his own. “I’d like the company,” Zack said. 

Cloud smiled.


	2. Cup Noodles in the Shinra Mansion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Can I…?” Cloud gestured at the doorway, waiting for Zack’s permission even though the door was open._
> 
> _“Of course! You’re welcome anytime! I was just making lunch.”_
> 
> _Cloud nodded and gritted his teeth as he walked into the mansion. Visibly wincing, he looked around the room, presumably taking in the chandeliers, the many-paneled windows at the back, and large staircase that led to the upper levels._
> 
> _“…you really live… here?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the AU that I like the most thus far. I may use this as a study to do a larger Ghost AU, or just write another chapter for this one within this AU collection. Enjoy. ^ ^

The first thing Zack was going to do was fix the hinges on the iron-wrought gate. It lazily swung open at the slightest touch, swaying drunkenly from the top hinge. The bottom one had rusted off, lying in a thick patch of grass that had grown up around a tall stone fence that surrounded the entire estate. 

Zack shook his head as he propped the iron gate against the fence. He had never thought he would own anything close to an estate. 

“They call it the Shinra Mansion. Most say it’s haunted,” the sixteen year-old cashier at the local store told him after Zack had mentioned that he had moved into the abandoned house on the hill. 

The boy dropped his veil of apathy quickly, looking up at Zack with curiosity and a gleam of mischief. Nibelheim wasn’t the largest town — by Zack’s estimation it had three more buildings than his native Gongaga, the Shinra Mansion, a slightly larger bar, and one additional restaurant — and he smiled sympathetically down at the boy.

As a bored teenager forced to work at the Gongaga general store, Zack too would have made up a story to confuse an outsider for fun if given the chance. 

Zack had already been in the military by the time he turned sixteen. Gongaga had been wiped off the map by a supposed reactor accident when Zack was twenty and a continent away, cutting through thunderbirds on the Wutai Plateau. 

He held back a shudder as he turned back to the cashier. 

“Even if it is, I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Zack said with a wide grin. “I’m Zack, by the way. See you around!”

A ghost couldn’t be worse than his own nightmares.

***

After a week of living in the Shinra Mansion, Zack concluded that the ghost rumours were due to the general creakiness of the house and its state of disrepair. He spent nearly every waking hour fixing something in the house only to find more issues that needed attention the next day.

No wonder Shinra had wanted to give this house to the first sap that would take it. 

“Gift for exemplary service in the line of duty my ass,” Zack muttered aloud. 

Against his better judgment, Zack had decided that today would be the day he would finally fix the gate hinges. The iron gate still hung off of the fence at an odd angle and anyone could have easily walked on to his property and into his house over the past week. 

No one had. 

Zack had been the one walking down the hill every night to the local bar, Seventh Heaven, to get to know as many people as possible. Everyone in Nibelheim was so friendly, Zack hardly would have minded if someone had wanted to come up to his house. 

Eying the gate from where he sat on the grass, Zack rubbed his left leg absentmindedly, twirling a pair of pliers in his free hand. 

“Moving the gate completely would make it easier for guests…” he said aloud.

A soft cough startled him out of his thoughts. 

At the end of the path leading up the hill, a few metres away from the mansion gate, a young man in a courier outfit stood nervously wringing his hands and staring beyond Zack at the house. Two packages sat in the dirt at his feet. 

“Oh yeah I was expecting a delivery from Seph,” Zack said, more as a reminder to himself than an explanation for the courier. 

Startled, the man awkwardly shifted on his feet and nodded, seemingly unsure if he should respond to Zack or not, before ducking his head. His messy blond hair shone in the sun, curling out from underneath a black cap and away from the collar on his polo shirt. The shirt read “Strife Delivery Service” in neatly-printed block letters across his chest. 

“Did you deliver these? I haven’t seen you around before.” 

Zack nearly added a flirtatious, “I would remember” to the end of that sentence, but the man already looked like he was about to sprint down the hill if Zack breathed the wrong way, eyes wide with fright. 

The courier nodded again, hands twitching at his sides. 

“I’m Zack Fair, I just moved here. Nice to meet you…” 

“Cloud Strife.” He removed the cap, revealing more unruly tufts of blond hair, and finally looked up at Zack with a nervous grin. 

_Green. His eyes are bright green._

Zack realized he was staring when Cloud quickly dropped his gaze, flushing red and shoving his cap back onto his head. 

Rising to his feet, Zack dusted off his trousers and stepped forward to shake Cloud’s hand. A frown flickered across Cloud’s face as he took it. 

“Your leg…” Cloud said softly. 

“Old injury.” Zack shrugged it off with another smile, shaking his leg a bit to stave off the inevitably stiffness. 

Cloud nodded, still frowning. 

“Do you need…?” The courier gestured at the boxes. His bright green eyes were locked on the mansion behind Zack as a look of fear crossed his face. 

“It’s not haunted if that’s what you’re worried about,” Zack joked. Cloud blushed furiously and shook his head, taking a step backwards away from the house. 

Resisting the urge to pout, Zack hefted both boxes over his shoulder. Fortunately neither of them were heavy whatsoever. He briefly wondered if Sephiroth had simply filled them with air as a joke, but his former CO was far too serious for that. 

Sephiroth had said he was sending Zack food, but Zack couldn’t think of any food that would be this light. He shuddered at the thought of boxes filled with military ration bars. That seemed like something Seph would definitely send. 

“Want to come in for a drink?” he asked Cloud, hoping he didn’t sound too desperate. 

“No…” Cloud said. He tore his eyes away from the house and turned to walk back down the hill. “But thank you.”

“See you around Cloudy!”

***

A month passed and Zack hadn’t seen Cloud since that afternoon. When he asked a few people in town about Cloud, they had looked at Zack a bit strangely and said that they didn’t know anyone by that name. 

Perhaps Cloud was from a different town and had just been delivering to Nibelheim. 

Zack sighed. Putting aside the physical attraction, at least Cloud had seemed close to his age. Most people in Nibelheim were either much older or younger couples with newborns. The only other person close to his age was Tifa, the owner of the bar, and she always had her hands full with the locals when Zack came down for a drink at night. 

“So is it?” 

The cashier interrupted Zack’s thoughts. 

“Is it what?”

Leaning forward, the cashier studied him with a gleam in his eye. It was the most interest in anything Zack had ever seen the teenage boy express. 

“You know, haunted? Does the Shinra Mansion have a ghost? We used to dare each other to go in there as kids. One of my friends swore he saw a coffin! Another one heard piano music but we couldn’t figure out where it was coming from.”

Zack laughed loudly. The boy stood back, looking annoyed that Zack wasn’t taking him seriously. 

“No it’s not. There’s just a lot of stuff to fix, that’s all.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’m sure. There’s nothing that can’t be explained by a broken something-or-other. Sorry to disappoint you.”

With a mumbled, “Whatever,” the cashier handed Zack his bag of groceries. Zack grinned and thanked him. 

He hadn’t been entirely truthful with the cashier. There had been a few incidents that even Zack couldn’t explain away, but he logically assumed that he just didn’t have all of the information. He would continue gathering intel rather than rushing to conclusions. 

Zack rubbed his left leg again as he walked back up the hill, bag slung over his shoulder. 

He hadn’t been particularly good with patience while in the Shinra Army, but he felt that fixing up this dilapidated old house had already taught him more patience than any mission.

***

Sephiroth’s gift had turned out to be two boxes packed with cup noodles packages, all stamped with the Shinra Company logo. 

Zack wondered if it was his former CO’s idea of a joke. He could never tell with Seph. 

Walking in the door, the fragrant spicy smell of cup noodles wafted through the house. Zack didn’t remember making them before he left, but when he walked into the kitchen he found a freshly-made cup on the table. Steam curled into the damp atmosphere of the mansion, dispelling some of its natural gloom. 

Before Zack could think too much on whether he had accidentally left his stove on, or how the food was still warm, he heard a knock at the front door. 

“It’s open!” he yelled. There was no response and after a few moments Zack walked into the large foyer to see Cloud Strife shifting nervously on the heels of his feet. He wore the same courier service outfit, although there were no packages in sight. 

“Cloudy!”

“Can I…?” Cloud gestured at the doorway, waiting for Zack’s permission even though the door was open. 

“Of course! You’re welcome anytime! I was just making lunch.”

Cloud nodded and gritted his teeth as he walked into the mansion. Visibly wincing, he looked around the room, presumably taking in the chandeliers, the many-paneled windows at the back, and large staircase that led to the upper levels.

“…you really live… here?” 

“It’s not so bad. Creepy at night because it kind of creaks and it’s too big but whatever.” Zack shrugged. “It was a gift.”

Cloud tilted his head to the side, looking at Zack with confusion as he followed Zack into the kitchen. 

“A gift…?”

Zack pulled out an extra cup noodle bowl and a pot to boil water. “From the Shinra Army. For ‘exemplary service in the line of duty.’” 

“Your leg…” 

Cloud flinched at the mention of Shinra and Zack made a note to mention the company as little as possible. Cloud wouldn’t be the first person he had met to hate Shinra based on principle. 

Zack had done a lot of admittedly awful things in the name of Shinra. 

“I hope you’re okay with curry flavour,” Zack said as he removed the pot from the stovetop and poured the water over the cup. 

“It’s the only one that Seph sent. He’s my former CO. I think he sent these to me as a joke. He used to make fun of my eating habits a lot. It was your delivery from the other day.” 

Cloud nodded. His green eyes seemed to glow in the low light of Zack’s kitchen. 

Zack filled their afternoon with comfortable chatter. Cloud didn’t talk much, but seemed engaged enough. Slurping his noodles loudly, Zack talked about his early misadventures in the military, gesturing wildly over the table long after they had both finished their lunch. 

He watched as Cloud’s furrowed brow evened out and anxiety slid from Cloud’s face. At one point, Cloud laughed openly and loudly. 

Zack resolved to do anything to make Cloud laugh that way again.

***

It was another busy night at Seventh Heaven when Zack finally had the chance to ask Tifa about Cloud Strife. 

She nearly dropped the glass she had been drying. 

“I suppose you should know, since you’re living there,” Tifa said. She sighed, placing the glass upside-down on a drying rack behind her before reaching for a smaller tumbler and neatly pouring Zack a whisky. 

He raised his eyebrows up at her as he reached across the bar for the tumbler.   
“Trust me, you’ll need it.”

Cloud Strife had been a courier for his family’s delivery service based just outside of Nibelheim in the Nibel mountains. He had disappeared when he was twenty on a delivery to the Shinra Mansion. 

His body was found a year later, discarded on the mansion lawn.

It had been in pristine condition. The one Nibelheim doctor who had been able to take a look at the body before Shinra scientists had swooped onto the scene had not been able to find a cause of death. 

Cloud Strife had died four years before Zack had moved to Nibelheim. 

_”Cloud was quiet but fiercely loyal to his friends. He wanted to join the Shinra Army once. You may have run into each other if he’d passed the physical.”_

Tifa’s words swam in Zack’s head as he stumbled up the hill several drinks and hours later.

“Zack…”

“Cloudy! You’re here,” Zack slurred as he lurched towards Cloud. The courier caught him in his arms at the door to the mansion, helping Zack stumble across the threshold into the house. 

“Which way…?” Cloud frowned up at the stairs. Zack nodded furiously.

“S’gonna be hard to get up those. You are a bit cold Cloudy I should have known.” Zack ran his hands up and down Cloud’s arms. Cloud shivered. 

“Zack…”

“S’okay, I won’t tell anyone.”

Cloud helped Zack onto a nearby sofa, looking down at him worriedly. “Won’t tell anyone what?”

Zack reached up, cupping Cloud’s cheek in the palm of his hand. Even with a bright-red flush on his face, Cloud was cold to the touch. He brushed a wayward tuft of hair out of Cloud’s eyes. 

“That you’re the ghost.”


	3. Chocolate Biscuits in the Hufflepuff Common Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“He’s the best friend anyone could ask for,” Kunsel Russell said. “Zack would do anything for a friend. Or an acquaintance. Or anyone who’s in trouble, really.”_
> 
> _“Zack’s an idiot. A good-looking idiot, but an idiot,” Hufflepuff fifth-year Aerith Gainsborough said. Next to her, Tifa Lockhart nodded._
> 
> _“Zack is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met,” Hufflepuff sixth-year Tifa Lockheart said diplomatically._

“You’re going to stare a hole through his shirt and then where would that leave you?”

Cloud tore his eyes away from Zack Fair long enough to glare at Tifa.

“Cloud would probably love it. Shirtless Zack. You could probably sell photographs,” Aerith chimed in as she sat down between the two of them. 

A plate of bacon, eggs, and beans appeared in front of her. She smiled happily, kissing Tifa on the cheek before digging her elbow into Cloud’s side. 

“Move over, Cloudy.”

Face flushing a vibrant red as Aerith used the name Zack had for him, Cloud scooting over and glared at her.

“Wow did this egg come from being fried on your face?” Aerith asked. A piece of egg dangled from her fork as she waved it in front of Cloud’s nose. 

At the end of the table, Kunsel said something that made Zack throw his head back and laugh. Cloud watched enviously. 

“You know, he’s in our house. You talk to him every day at practice. He asks you to help him with his assignments. You could just talk to him more like a friend and less like…” Aerith trailed off, rotating the fork nimbly between her fingers. 

_An idiot?_

_A lovesick idiot?_

“…Or just ask him out already. He likes you!”

The egg fell unceremoniously from Aerith’s fork into his lap. 

“Gross,” Cloud said, rubbing at his robes with his hands, smearing the egg yolk into them and making more of a mess. 

Rolling her eyes, Tifa mumbled a quick “Scourgify” under her breath and the stain vanished.

***

Part of the problem — that also wasn’t a problem at all, depending on what time of day Cloud was asked and his overall mood — was that Zack was outgoing, friendly, and tactile. He touched Cloud constantly.

“Hey Cloudy!” Zack said, slinging his hand over Cloud’s shoulder after practice, his wristguard leaving a scratch on Cloud’s cheek. “Ahhh sorry about that!”

“It’s no problem,” Cloud said. 

“Spikey I don’t get this Alchemy stuff at aaaaaaall,” Zack pouted, flopping down next to Cloud on one of the worn common room sofas. Above him a copper lantern sputtered a bit from the sudden motion. Cloud blushed as Zack’s thighs brushed up against his own. 

“…Why did you take it?

“Professor Tuesti made it seem so cool! Did you know that he’s an Inspire? He can transmute anything!”

“…”

“Mmm, Cloudy, you were great. We were great,” Zack said, slurring his words after one too many swigs of firewhiskey, draping himself over Cloud’s dormitory bed. His breath was warm in Cloud’s ear and his face flushed from drinking and celebrating their latest victory. 

“Dunno what I’m going to do next year without you,” Zack hiccuped.

“…”

***

Zack Fair was beloved, not just by fellow Hufflepuff housemate Cloud Strife, but throughout the entire school across all years and houses.

When he was appointed Head Boy that year, it was only natural that Slytherin second-year Kyrie Canaan would want to write an article on him for her self-published and wildly popular independent newspaper, The Daily Owl. 

“More of a tabloid than anythin’ else,” Gryffindor Quidditch Captain Barrett Wallace said, grumbling under his breath. “Oh! You asked about Zack. Zack’s a great guy. Tough to beat on the pitch though. We’ll get ‘im this year.”

“We call him ‘puppy’ because he would follow us around at school all of the time,” former Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain Angeal Hewley said wistfully after Kyrie cornered him in Hogsmeade. “He’s the best beater I ever had on that team.”

“Zack Fair has been nothing short of a model student in my classes. He tries remarkably hard and always asks for help,” Professor Reeve Tuesti said, with a slightly pained expression on his face. “He’s quite enthusiastic.”

“Zack is probably the most fit person here except maybe that mysterious vampire seventh-year prefect,” Slytherin fourth-year Yuffie Kisaragi said. 

“Yuffie knows my name, I’m in her house. Also Zack Fair is loud,” Slytherin seventh-year Vincent Valentine said. 

Underneath his quote, Kyrie wrote in parentheses (mysterious vampire seventh-year prefect) so her readers would not be confused by the exchange, although she was also certain that most Hogwarts students had a similar opinion of Vincent Valentine. 

She had written the headline “Mysterious Vampire Prefect” once herself. 

“Zack is the best choice for Head Boy of anyone in our year,” Ravenclaw seventh-year and Head Girl Rita Spencer said. “He loves people and genuinely wants them to do well. Although he does get into a bit of trouble himself sometimes.”

“He’s the best friend anyone could ask for,” Kunsel Russell said. “Zack would do anything for a friend. Or an acquaintance. Or anyone who’s in trouble, really.”

“Zack’s an idiot. A good-looking idiot, but an idiot,” Hufflepuff fifth-year Aerith Gainsborough said. Next to her, Tifa Lockhart nodded. 

“Zack is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met,” Hufflepuff sixth-year Tifa Lockheart said diplomatically. 

Cloud didn’t say anything at all. He simply stared at Kyrie before muttering out an excuse and fleeing down the nearest tunnel to the dormitories.

***

“But why?”

Cloud couldn’t help but blurt this out, his voice cracking on “why” after Zack pulled away from him, panting. There was still a small smudge of chocolate on Zack’s face from the biscuits he had taken from the kitchens. 

Zack stared at Cloud with the same open smile without responding. The copper lantern flickered above them. After another moment, Zack leaned in and kissed Cloud again. 

He tasted like chocolate biscuits. 

“Because I love you, Cloud,” Zack said breathlessly when he pulled away several minutes later. 

Cloud heard giggling coming from the tunnel to the girls’ dormitory that sounded suspiciously like Aerith and Tifa but couldn’t bring himself to care. 

“…oh.”

***

Zack Fair first noticed Cloud Strife in his fifth year when Cloud made it onto the team. He looked too small to be a chaser, yet his remarkable speed and agility made him the best one they had.

When he asked Cloud why he hadn’t tried out for the team sooner, the shy blond boy had mumbled something about his friend Tifa saying that he should go to tryouts and had run away before Zack could so much as shake his hand. 

In their first match as teammates, Cloud took a bludger meant for Zack and plummeted to the ground, crashing in spectacular fashion. The gesture — Zack definitely could have dodged it by his own estimation — had earned Cloud a week-long hospital wing stay.  
Zack rarely left his side for all of it, despite Cloud being asleep for most of it. 

When Cloud woke up, Zack was pacing and rambling — something about fighting Death Eaters. Cloud didn’t understand a word he was saying. 

“What’s going on? Who is the enemy? It makes no difference to me!” His voice broke and Cloud watched curiously as Zack’s knuckles turned white, clenching his fists at his sides. 

“You know Zack,” Cloud said weakly from his bed. It was the first thing he had said in days and his throat felt like sandpaper. 

“I’ve never seen you use your wand for anything but helping people.”

It was the most Zack had ever heard Cloud say. 

“It’s a symbol of my hopes and dreams— no, it’s more. That’s right, I had almost forgotten.” Zack looked at Cloud with awe and sudden understanding. 

“Thanks Cloud,” Zack said. 

He reached out and ruffled Cloud’s hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure about this one either but it was fun to write!
> 
> The dialogue in the part is from Crisis Core when Cloud talks to Zack in Nibelheim about being a SOLDIER. 
> 
> Definitely let me know if any of you have a specific AU in mind for the future.


	4. Pickle-Flavoured Crisps at Midgar Western Hospital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _His expression was nervous as if he was expecting Cloud to yell at him. Cloud reached out and covered Zack’s hands with his own._
> 
> _He didn’t say anything else, but Zack didn’t seem to be in a hurry to see any other patients so they sat there in silence, Cloud offering him a small smile._
> 
> _Zack’s hands were calloused but just as warm as Cloud remembered._

He was drowning.

Cloud had never learned to swim. Shay had promised to teach him and Tifa once when they were kids. They had snuck out to the Nibelheim water tower at night. Cloud had been too embarrassed to learn. Sitting on the platform around the water tower itself, dangling his feet over the edge, Cloud had watched as Shay had taught a laughing Tifa. When he had leaned back against the rotting wood he could hear crickets and cicadas in the darkness. It was one of those memories that stuck with him.

Even though he hadn’t learned how to swim, it had still been fun in its own way. 

He was drowning, yet every day he could hear a voice from above the water. 

The voice was low and comforting. When Cloud looked up into the warped sunlight above the water, he could hear laughter bubbling up from the waves. Cloud remembered Shay and Tifa laughing and teasing him as they splashed in the water tower. He imagined black hair and a sheepish grin, but it wasn’t a face he recognized. 

Cloud didn’t recognize the voice either, and the voice didn’t say anything that Cloud could understand. 

_Hey Spikey! Today I brought Stamp crisps. I know, I know, they’re not supposed to be my entire dinner but honestly everything else here is terrible. You’re lucky that they’re feeding you through an IV, am I right?”_

_Kunsel said that you’ll get better soon but you’ll be really tired still._

_I think my friend Aerith, y’know, the one who’s a florist? I think she had a thing for your friend Tifa. She’s been sending her flowers lately…_

_So then, I told Angeal that Genesis was waiting for him, stark naked, in his hotel room! It was a lie but they got together somehow so I have to take credit for it, y’know?_

_I hope you wake up soon, Spikey._

Cloud opened his eyes. 

A low beeping sound increased in frequency from a machine close to his head. It had an oddly soothing rhythm. 

He closed his eyes again, eyelids growing inexplicably heavy, before forcing them open to look around. 

A hospital room then. He hadn’t been swimming at all.

_The motorcycle careened out of control off of the overpass at the Junon Drive exit. Sheets of rain and ice enveloped him as he fell…_

Hearing a soft snore next to him, Cloud nearly jumped. The beeping grew more shrill and even higher in frequency. Slumped in a nearby folding chair, inside the heavy fabric curtain that surrounded his bed, sat a man in soft purple scrubs with messy black hair. He wore a badge, but Cloud couldn’t read what it said. 

“Ex…” Cloud’s first attempt at speaking immediately trailed off into a weak cough. The sound was enough to startle the man awake. He immediately sprung up from his seat, sending it clattering through the curtain, as he stood over Cloud. Wringing his hands, he beamed down at Cloud.

_Like they knew each other._

For a brief moment, Cloud wondered if he did know this man and was suffering from some sort of amnesia. He didn’t even know how long he had been here. 

“Excuse me…” Cloud said. Even saying this little was exhausting.

_What happened?_

_Where am I?_

_How long have I been here?_

_What’s wrong with me?_

“Who are you?” Unshed tears welled up in Cloud’s eyes despite asking the easiest question that had run through his head — or possibly the hardest, although he really didn’t think he knew this man.

“Zack Fair! I’m your… nurse,” the man said, visibly wincing. He flushed violently as if this was something to be embarrassed about and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. 

It was a motion Cloud knew from his dreams. 

“Ummm… how long… ?” 

“Two months,” Zack said, the wide grin sliding off of his face a bit. 

_Two months?!_

“I’ve been assigned to you for all of them but that’s not why I’m here now. I mean, I’m not here because of my job I’m here kind of because Tifa asked me to take care of you and also I dunno I thought it would be sad for you to wake up all alone…”

Zack was loud and bright. Cloud couldn’t really keep up with what he was saying, although he latched on to one part of Zack’s rambling explanation. 

“Tifa?”

Zack’s shoulders relaxed and he stooped down to pick up the chair he had pushed to the floor. Sitting down, he took Cloud’s left hand and placed it between his. Zack’s hands were warm. Cloud resisted his initial urge to pull away. 

“She comes by pretty often. She really cares about you. Also she started dating a friend of mine. I kind of introduced them. It was an accident but they seem really happy together.”

Cloud didn’t know what to say to this so he nodded and Zack took it as a signal to continue. As Zack babbled, Cloud felt his eyelids growing heavy again. His last thought before slipping completely under was that he should have thanked the nurse for being there.

***

Tifa came by the next day and confirmed everything Zack had told him.

Zack had been assigned to be his nurse while he was in a medically-induced coma due to brain injuries from the motorcycle crash. Cloud was expected to make a full recovery but it would take time and a lot of rehabilitation efforts. 

Also she was dating Zack’s best friend: an energetic brown-haired florist named Aerith.

Cloud liked Aerith. He was also a bit terrified of her. She seemed to have a lot going on underneath her bubbly exterior, but he supposed that was none of his business. 

“Hey Spikey, Tifa,” Zack said as he plopped down into the folding chair next to Cloud’s bed. Tifa had left it conspicuously empty, choosing instead to stand to Cloud’s right. 

A loud crinkling noise came from Zack’s lap followed by a loud pop. Suddenly Cloud found his bed covered in crisps as the bag exploded in Zack’s hands. The three of them all looked at each other, startled, before Tifa and Zack began to laugh. 

“Cloud there’s one in your hair!” Tifa said between giggles. 

He shook his head rapidly only to go completely still as Zack reached up and pulled a crisp out of his long, blond bangs. 

He really should have his hair cut. They must do that in the hospital somehow. 

Zack’s face was suddenly right next to his. Neither man moved. Cloud closed his eyes. He could feel Zack’s breath on his cheek. Blushing, Zack offered the crisp to Cloud. 

The moment broken, Cloud flushed in response and popped it into his mouth, crunching down on it before making a face.

“Ugh, Zack that’s disgusting what is that?”

“Pickle flavour! They’re the best of the limited edition Stamp crisps!”

“They’re pretty good,” Tifa said, looking down at the two of them as she licked the crumbs off of her fingers. 

Cloud had forgotten that Tifa was there and from the knowing smirk on her face, she had definitely noticed.

***

“You seem…”

_Lonely._

_Sad._

_Like you’re about to cry._

“…unhappy,” Cloud finally finished. Zack had walked in that day subdued and quiet. He only spoke in brief sentences that morning, and seemingly would have walked away if Cloud hadn’t said anything. 

“My best friend died.” Zack said abruptly. 

His grin was small and sad and didn’t reach his eyes. Cloud gaped at him, unsure of what to do with such brutal honesty. He opened his mouth to apologize but Zack continued. 

“I told you about him a bit, Angeal? We were in the military together but I ended up becoming a civilian after Wutai. He didn’t.”

Cloud nodded. “I’m… I’m sorry, Zack. Why didn’t you…?”

“Take the day off?” Zack sighed as Cloud nodded again. “I dunno, it just seemed better than sitting at home not thinking about it. We deal with injuries and death all the time here it’s weirdly comforting?”

His expression was nervous as if he was expecting Cloud to yell at him. Cloud reached out and covered Zack’s hands with his own. 

He didn’t say anything else, but Zack didn’t seem to be in a hurry to see any other patients so they sat there in silence, Cloud offering him a small smile. 

Zack’s hands were calloused but just as warm as Cloud remembered.

***

“I’m telling you Cloud, if you don’t get Zack’s number before leaving this hospital I will put you back in it, involuntarily.”

Tifa cracked her knuckles menacingly to emphasize her point. Cloud was genuinely afraid of his best friend’s martial arts skills — she had kicked his ass more times than he could remember — but her empathetic disposition meant that she wouldn’t actually follow through on this threat and Cloud knew it. 

“That’s a bit… weird isn’t it? I mean, he’s my nurse.”

“He’s here every day. He definitely didn’t have to be here every day. And when you were out he took care of you.”

“Yeah but…” 

_He had to be here._

_It’s his job._

_I’ll feel like I’m taking advantage of him._

As he ran through his excuses, Cloud realized that Zack must have seen him out cold at his worst for months. Mortified, he drew his arms back towards his body and blushed.

“Oh come on, talking to him about your crush isn’t that scary!”

“Oooh are we talking about Zack liking Cloud?” Aerith walked in with freshly-cut flowers and a mischievous grin. 

“What?” Cloud said. At the same time Tifa let out a loud, “I told you!”

Aerith shrugged as if she hadn’t heard either of them. “You’re all he talks about. ‘Aerith, Cloud smiled in his sleep today! Aerith, I think we might be able to bring Cloud out of his coma soon, would it be weird if I waited? Aerith, do you think Cloud would want me to bring him lunch?’ It’s honestly kind of creepy.”

“…Zack never brought me lunch.” Overwhelmed by the idea that Zack would think about him this much, Cloud latched onto the most ordinary-sounding part of Aerith’s falsetto Zack imitations. 

Aerith laughed loudly, arranging her bright yellow flowers in a vase that had been propped up on a nearby windowsill next to Cloud’s bed. She always brought flowers to “brighten up the room.” Cloud thought it was really just to have another excuse to give Tifa a single flower, tucking it behind her ear with a giggle and soft kiss. 

He really was happy for them both. 

“That’s because I convinced him not to do it. Zack is a horrible cook. He’s actually the worst. One time he asked me how to boil water.”

“He brought Stamp crisps once,” Cloud said. 

Aerith smiled. 

“Think about it this way,” she said as she tucked today’s flower behind Tifa’s ear. “If he makes a move on you, it’s kind of an abuse of power isn’t it? You’re going to have to make the first move.”

“Great,” Cloud said as acerbically as he could manage. It came out trembling and nervous instead.

***

When the day of his discharge arrived, Cloud was dreading leaving the hospital for several reasons.

He had a limp that would never go away and potentially permanent brain damage, despite what Zack and the doctors had said was as full of a recovery as to be expected. 

He didn’t know whether he’d be able to get back onto a motorcycle to continue his delivery service. 

He didn’t know whether he would see Zack again. 

Actually that wasn’t true. With Tifa and Aerith dating, he was sure he would eventually see Zack again but there was a part of him that didn’t want to leave this to chance. 

There was another part of him, the completely terrified part, that wanted to walk out the double doors of Midgar Western without saying anything at all, especially since Zack had not stopped by at all today. 

With vague threats from both Tifa and Aerith — he was still far more afraid of the latter than the former — floating around his head, Cloud wearily dragged himself to the nurses station after he had signed himself out. 

He heard Zack before he saw him, chatting about a particularly troublesome patient who wouldn’t take their routine medications. 

“Hey Spikey!” Zack said with a large wave. 

“Would you like to get dinner? With me? Sometime?” Cloud blurted out once he reached the station.

He was suddenly and very painfully aware of the other nurses staring at him with knowing eyes. Maybe patients asked Zack out all the time. 

Zack looked stunned and, for once, didn’t say anything at all.

Sighing, Cloud nodded and turned away before Zack or the other nurse could see the unshed tears at the corners of his eyes. Tifa and Aerith had been wrong. He shouldn’t have listened to them. 

_What was I thinking? Zack probably changed my bedpans when I was out. He definitely doesn’t want to—_

“I’d love to,” Zack said breathlessly. He grabbed Cloud’s hand and squeezed it tightly.

“I’d really love to.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually not super happy with the way this one turned out so I may edit it in the future. T_T I just wanted to get one of these AUs out there before the deadline.


End file.
